This project is funded by Defra via the Catchment Partnership Action Fund. BART and FWAG SW are working with farmers and landowners in the headwaters of the Bristol Frome sub-catchment to identify and take actions to reduce the levels of sediment and nutrients entering the river which is currently failing for phosphate under the Water Framework Directive.

The project is designed to kickstart farming involvement by tackling these issues and providing specialist advice to local farmers who are best placed to contribute to the solving these problems. The project helps to raise awareness of best practice and provides capital funding contributions for improvements on high risk farms in the project area.

The SHRIMP (Sherston River improvement project) is an exciting community project on the Luckington Brook in the village of Sherston, Wiltshire. As a result of funding grants from Wessex Water and the People’s Postcode Trust, the project team is working with local volunteers to restore a popular section of the river close to the village. The SHRIMP project will enhance wildflower meadows, promote public access and restore a section of river suffering from various problems.

The Mendip Lakes Partnership was formed in autumn 2014 to deliver projects that improve the quality of the natural environment across the 11,000ha catchments of the Chew Valley, Blagdon and Chew Magna reservoirs. The primary issues of concern are water quality (soil, nutrient and pesticide pollution of watercourses and reservoirs), flood risk management and habitat provision/enhancement. The partnership provides a unified and coordinated group as a single source of engagement with farmers and landowners in the Mendip Lakes catchments.

Restoring Coastal and Floodplain Grazing Marsh on the North Somerset Levels and Moors

This project will deliver an integrated approach to the management and restoration of the grazing marsh and associated habitat in this area of the catchment. The project will also seek commitment from partners and funding bodies to provide additional resources for this work. An integrated approach to management is required to achieve multiple benefits for farming, biodiversity, water quality and flood alleviation.

The River Story

Local communities in the Bristol Avon have contributed greatly by telling their River Story; resulting in the production of the River Story film and an annotated catchment map illustrating how local communities connect with the River Avon and its tributaries as it flows past their homes, schools, villages and towns.